Water issues top county's lobbying agenda

STOCKTON - Money and mandates from state and federal governments have a big impact on what San Joaquin County government does and how it pays for it.

Zachary K. Johnson

STOCKTON - Money and mandates from state and federal governments have a big impact on what San Joaquin County government does and how it pays for it.

And trying to make the money keep pace with the mandates is one of the reasons county officials lobby lawmakers and administration officials in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved the county's lobbying platform, a compendium of 10 projects and 49 legislative or regulatory issues in California and 13 projects and 25 issues on the federal level.

And at the top of the list, as usual, are water issues, both efforts to improve flood protection and to preserve the county's interests in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The Delta is the water source for much of the state, and a state push that could build tunnels to divert river water around the Delta to export pumps has local officials worried about the local impact.

"If this is jammed down our throats, there could be a myriad of bad, bad things that could happen to the county," Supervisor Larry Ruhstaller said, starting with the potential loss of agricultural land.

Ruhstaller and board Chairman Ken Vogel are part of a county contingent headed to Washington next week to meet face to face with Washington decision-makers. Agriculture and health care are on the agenda, too, but water is at the top of the list.

Even though the Delta tunnels are a state project, local officials would like to see federal legislation that would require a cost-benefit analysis for any proposal to move Delta water.

"We want as much scrutiny as we can get on that," Vogel said. And that could be useful to measure alternatives to the proposed tunnels plan, he said.

And on the flood protection side, the county would like to see funding to study and improve the levee system that protects everything from farmland to Stockton's urban core.

On dry land, the county's legislative priorities are to make improvements at Stockton Metropolitan Airport and widen Highway 4 from Stockton to the Bay Area from two to four lanes.